Well done, Billy Graham

Rev. Billy Graham was laid to rest on Friday. About 2,000 attended the funeral, and multitudes more watched it via livestream and television, many of whom had been touched by the ministry of "America's Pastor." Since his passing on Feb. 21, people have shared their stories of his imprint on their lives.

I pay tribute to the man who spent his life living and preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, advising 12 U.S. presidents, and earning the respect of people the world over--of various religions. He preached with conviction, he preached with power and he preached with love.

Rev. Graham declared the name of Jesus without apology, never watering it down or failing to acknowledge that it is in Christ and Christ alone that we find salvation. He invited countless people to repent and receive the love and forgiveness Jesus offers and prayed for them as they accepted that invitation.

He was a man of integrity, living above reproach and scandal, and kept his opinions to himself. By that, I mean his ministry was not about promoting his own name or a political agenda. It was about declaring the word of God as he understood it. He was faithful to his God. He was also faithful to his family.

In fact, perhaps the greatest testament of his character is his children's own recollections of him as a man who prayed, studied his Bible and lived his faith. Who among us has not had strangers speak well of us? Strangers, however, do not live with us. It is those within our own households and families who see us at our rawest, who know who we are when the cameras are off, who understand what's in our hearts. When those people regard us with respect and admiration, it speaks volumes. It speaks to our true character.

When delivering the eulogy, son Franklin Graham said, "The Billy Graham that the world saw on television, the Billy Graham that the world saw in the big stadiums, was the same Billy Graham that we saw at home. There weren't two Billy Grahams," he said. "He loved his family. He stood by us. He comforted us."

Each of Rev. Graham's children spoke at their father's funeral. One of his daughters, Ruth, shared her deeply personal story of walking in sin for a time and suffering two divorces, having ignored her parents' admonitions. When she, like the Prodigal Son, decided to return home, her father, like the Prodigal Father, received her with open arms. He demonstrated the love of God in his acceptance of her. She had been concerned about disgracing him, the well-known Billy Graham. But he was concerned about her and graciously demonstrated the love of a father and the love of the Father.

"My father was not God, but he showed me what God was like that day," Ruth said. "When we come to God with our sin, our brokenness, our failure, our pain and our hurt, God says, 'Welcome home.'"

In his brief remarks, Ned Graham, the youngest son, called his father "FAT," explaining that "he was faithful, he was available and he was teachable."

It is no surprise that the reverend's children, like their dad, have committed their lives to the Gospel. It's what was deposited into them. It's all they have seen. It's who they are. They saw their father lead millions to Jesus, and how fitting it was, then, that at the end of his eulogy, Franklin would offer the same invitation to self-reflection that leads to salvation: "How about you? If this were your funeral, would you be in Heaven? Are you sure?"

Rev. Graham's legacy is one of love, grace and uncompromising faith in the Savior, Jesus Christ. In a culture that seeks to make every "god" equal to every other, oh, how we need the Billy Grahams, those whose lives and ministries proclaim, "For there is no other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."

And that name has been proclaimed repeatedly on television and the Internet since Rev. Graham's death. As I watched numerous clips of his crusades and many members of the media discuss his ministry just in the last several days, I have seen more of the Gospel and heard the name of Jesus on the news more times than I have heard in...well, maybe ever, as the news has sought fit to honor him. I could not help but wonder throughout these days how many are still coming to know Jesus through Billy Graham. Could it be that in his death he will draw as many or more to Jesus as he did in his life?

It is fitting to conclude this tribute with Rev. Graham's own words: "Some day, you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don't you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God."

Oh, the joy he must have felt when he finally heard those anticipated words: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

Adrienne Ross is owner of Adrienne Ross Communications and a former Southeast Missourian editorial board member. Contact her at aross@semissourian.com.